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Carlisle coached Doncic during the Slovenian superstar's first three seasons with the Dallas Mavericks, witnessing his rapid transformation from a highly regarded European prospect into one of the NBA's best players. "I said this during the year, from a talent standpoint and ability and everything else, he's the most unique player I've ever worked with," Carlisle said. "He's just so good. And he's a killer, you know? He's a killer competitor, too."
Rick Carlisle: ‘Nobody can tell me that Magic Johnson and Larry Bird wouldn't have been top players in the league today. Greatness is going to be great regardless of the era. You are going to try to tell me that Russell wouldn't be great in this era? Russell, the guy who threw up before every game because he couldn't stomach the idea of losing and he had such impact on winning, can you imagine having that guy leading your team? That was the early version of Draymond Green.’
Rick Carlisle: ‘In 2011, it was either now or never. The team was aging. The veterans were still at in a part of their prime. Jason Terry was still great, Dirk was great, Jason Kidd was 37 and he was still playing at a very high level. He almost won the MVP a few years earlier with the Nets. I mean, the Nets were an autumn feeder and the Jason Kidd got traded to New Jersey and they had them in the finals twice, you know, so that he still could have that kind of impact. We traded for Tyson Chandler who gave us a defensive guy similar to yourself, very energetic, very vocal, very positive, very upbeat, totally only into winning, and Shawn Marion was a very underrated player. You can make a case that Shawn Marion could be in a conversation for Hall of Fame on a many multiple year, all-star type thing, championship player, great two-way player. He had an unconventional game, but he was an original in his purest form. It was clear to us heading into that final series that we had to have a very simple plan and a big part of it was going to have to be persistence.’
Rick Carlisle: ‘One of the pictures from the 2011 finals was one where Jason Kidd was picking up full court against LeBron James. So we were going to be full court, we were going to make nothing easy and we were going to be persistent. We were always going to be there. We had a zone defense which we had developed really during the previous summer to prepare for that season and Tim Grgurich was a big part of that. Now, Grg came on board with us that year. You know Grg well and Grg is a guy who's really to me the godfather of modern player development and he's just a charismatic figure on a coaching staff. And so we knew our zone was going to have to give us some help in that series because the matchups just weren't there. We had Peja Stojakovic who had played well in the previous series against the Lakers, but the matchups were very difficult against Miami and so the zone, the zone had to help us there.’
When appearing on "The Draymond Green Show," Rick Carlisle shared that he advised Steve Kerr to consider the Golden State job seriously rather than signing on with the New York Knicks. "I said, 'What's going on with the Knicks? I keep hearing you're going to take the job, but it hasn't happened yet,'" Carlisle told Green of his conversation with Kerr. "He said, 'Well, they don't -- they don't want to do the fourth year.' Now, this was when it was this was a different regime, and they were they were quabbling over the fourth year. "And I said, 'Steve, do you have any idea how much money that the Madison Square Garden operation has with Cable Vision and all that?' ... He goes, 'Well, there's -- I don't know -- some reasons.' I said, 'I've heard your name with Golden State a little bit. ... That is a conference finals team, like right now. If you want to go to a team ready to win, that's the place you should go if you can.'"
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Heat Central: Rick Carlisle explains how the Mavericks beat the the Big 3 Heat in the finals in 2011: “A picture from the finals where Kidd was picking up full court against LeBron James. We were going to be full court, make nothing easy, and be persistent. Always going to be there. We had a zone defense we developed during the previous summer to prepare for that season. — We knew our zone would have to help us in that series because the matchups weren’t there. We were going to be in attack mode, play fast, play random for great opportunities… We had great chemistry. Nowitzki showed that year and in those finals how great he was.” (Via @DraymondShow)
Michael Grange: Raptors notes from Las Vegas: look for longtime NBA assistant Stephen Silas to join Darko Rajakovic’s staff shortly. Silas has worked for Don Nelson, Rick Carlisle & his father, Paul Silas in 25yr career. Former head coach w Rockets, recently coached Team USA in WC Qualifying.
Rick Carlisle has been known to be a coach who’s tougher on his rookies. Are you kind of scared of that, or are you embracing that? Braden Smith: No, you've got to embrace it. I mean, at the end of the day, you've got to come in and earn it. You've got to come in, and you start back on ground zero, really. You've got to build your way up and earn that. I think that’s where I will succeed and be good at because I’ve had to do that at every level I’ve been a part of. So for me, it’s just a simple game of doing the right things. And what helps is like playing in a system and a good system, like I was at Purdue. The Pacers have a good system, I can adjust and fit well in that. So I think for me, it’s very easy to just go out there and play free and whatever happens, happens.
Tim Reynolds: Want to hear something wild? Will Hardy now has the seventh-longest active tenure among all NBA coaches, after Jason Kidd's ouster in Dallas. Erik Spoelstra, Steve Kerr, Tyronn Lue, Mark Daigneault, Chris Finch, Rick Carlisle ... and then Will Hardy.
As well as getting Haliburton back healthy, what do the Pacers need to do in the offseason in order to get back to the NBA Finals? Metta World Peace: Haliburton returning is going to be a massive help, obviously. Outside of that, I don’t think they need much more because they have Coach Rick Carlisle. Coach Carlisle is really good at getting the best out of what he has. In fact, he’s one of the best at this. You saw that during the team’s run to the NBA Finals last season. On paper, I don’t think they were a team that was capable of going as far as they did. But Carlisle got the best out of them, and he can spot holes in other teams. Look at what he did against the Oklahoma City Thunder compared to how other teams have played against them. They pushed them all the way to Game 7. You definitely need Haliburton back, though. You can’t go into a season without a player like him. Once he is back, you have him and Coach Carlisle. You’re going to be good.
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Dustin Dopriak: Rick Carlisle: "Proud of them. Dale Davis was here tonight. Brought him into the locker room. ... A guy who would have coveted playing in a game like this in a game against Detroit."
Dustin Dopirak: Rick Carlisle on benefits of the season being what it was: "We know what we got and so do other teams. There's going to be an interest in a lot of our players. Not that we're looking to move any of them."
Tony East: Jarace Walker is out tonight, Rick Carlisle says. Pacers will have nine guys available.
NBA Stat: Players with the best winning percentage in the regular season is dominated by (minimum 164 games = two full seasons)… 𝟳𝟲.𝟮% — Cason Wallace ⏳ 𝟳𝟲.𝟬% — Chet Holmgren ⏳ 𝟳𝟰.𝟬% — Magic Johnson 𝟳𝟯.𝟵% — Rick Carlisle 𝟳𝟯.𝟲% — Larry Bird 𝟳𝟯.𝟱% — Festus Ezeli 𝟳𝟯.𝟭% — K.C. Jones